(from VDH) The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) applauds President Biden’s initiatives, announced September 9, to meet the growing challenge of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, which is now powering a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States and in Virginia. With the U.S. averaging close to 150,000 cases and about 1,500 deaths per day, primarily attributable to the Delta variant, it is imperative we do all we can to beat back this surge.
Many Virginia employers from across the economic spectrum have already instituted one of the planks of the president’s response to the Delta surge: vaccination requirements for their employees. Leading the way has been the Commonwealth of Virginia following Governor Ralph Northam’s directive for all 120,000 state employees to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing for infection. The governor has called on local governments and other governmental entities to follow the Commonwealth’s lead, emphasizing that vaccination is the only sure way out of this pandemic and the only sure way to return to pre-pandemic normality. President Biden’s directive to employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated will build more momentum for COVID-19 vaccination in the private sector. VDH echoes that call.
